Bradford City football club has been rescued from closure by its local paper’s Save Our City Appeal.
Over the summer, Newsquest’s Telegraph & Argus has helped raise more than £250,000 to keep the club in business.
The club, which has a 101-year history, was hit financially by the collapse of ITV Digital and was put into administration. It was relegated to Division Two and told it needed £100,000 by the end of June to avoid closure.
Now the Football League has said the club can play in the Coca Cola League One, the new name for Division Two, when the season starts on Saturday.
The evening paper kicked off the appeal with a donation of £10,000 on 14 May and organised a series of fundraising events. More than £90,000 was raised at a pro-celebrity match organised by the T&A involving former Bradford City players and celebrities.
The club will now benefit from a further boost from former chief executive Julian Rhodes, who made a promise that he would match the sum of money raised through the appeal and by Bradford City Supporters’ Trust.
Telegraph & Argus editor Perry Austin-Clarke said: “This is a fantastic step forward for the club. It means that all the hard work that fans put in to raise funds for the Save Our City Appeal to keep the club alive during the summer has paid off.”
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